Retail's Next Technology Shift: From UX to AX

Preparing Retail for the Age of Agents

For the past two decades, technology investment has focused heavily on UX — User Experience. An entire academic discipline arose on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Retailers redesigned websites, apps, POS systems and store technologies to make them easier for customers and team members to use.

  • Faster checkout flows
  • Intuitive eCommerce navigation
  • Better mobile tools for store associates
  • Improved digital merchandising

All of this was based on a simple assumption: humans interact with retail systems. But a new reality is fast emerging. As AI capabilities advance, an increasing share of retail interactions will very soon be performed by AI agents acting on behalf of customers. Instead of people searching, comparing and purchasing products themselves, agents will increasingly do this work for them.

AX — Agent Experience — will soon become more important than UX.

  • MetaRouter confirms up to 30% increase in monthly traffic from agents and LLMs
  • Shopify reports a 14x increase in orders sourced from AI agents in 12 months
  • Walmart has signed up for the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) to enable agentic commerce and AI-mediated transactions

Agents do not browse. Agents consume structured information and interact through APIs, data feeds and transactional services. Retail leaders should start asking a new set of questions:

  1. How easy is it for customer agents to discover, evaluate and transact with us?
  2. How well can we interact with the agents acting on behalf of our customers?
  3. How is my brand and value proposition represented and understood by agents?

A Starting Checklist for AX

  1. Structured and accurate product information
  2. Real-time inventory availability
  3. Machine-ready pricing and promotions
  4. Secure transaction interfaces

Mulberry Group is working with leading retailers to make pragmatic AX investments and stay ahead of the competition. To discuss what Agent Experience means for your business, get in touch.

By Dimitrios Bairaktaris PhD | March 10, 2026

‍